Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

Several years ago I was on a practice court with Tamarine Tanasugarn. She was part of a team that had traveled with me overseas to compete. It was 7am and everyone was taking time to adjust to the unfamiliar conditions. Everyone except Tamarine that is! This was our first practice session after the long flight. Tamarine was striking the ball as cleanly as ever.   Her timing was perfect from the first ball until the last. What created her ability to adapt so well to the conditions and thrive? Later Paradorn Srichaphan, who reached a career high of #9 ATP had the same adaptability. I began to ask myself what this quality was and more importantly whether I could actually teach it to my students on-court. I began to formulate what I called 'The 3am Theory', the ability to play your best tennis at anytime, anywhere, on any surface, any, any… even at 3am in the morning.   Imagine you were woken from a sound sleep at 3am and asked to play a tie-break against a tough ...

A few decades ago coaches made a big deal about the grips a player used.   The first step in any lesson would usually revolve around learning the correct grip.   Back then the grip was god. The function of the grip for beginners and intermediate level players is primarily to provide strength and security between the hand and racquet. For advanced players the primary job of the grip is to allow the racquet-head to perform its purpose. This article deals with eliminating the contamination that can occur when a faulty grip doesn’t allow the racquet-head to perform its desired task. If a certain forehand grip doesn’t allow the racquet-head to hit a high bouncing ball cleanly , that player has a weakness that can be exploited by their opponent. He/she must find a new grip position or find a technique that helps them adapt to high balls on the fore-hand better. Often tactics that help you beat an opponent are based on an opponents inferior grips that fail to adapt to...

 To Snap or Pronate, Which is Best?  There are two theories on how to hit a serve.   There are people who believe that “Snapping” the wrist is the best way and others who believe that “Pronating” is the best method of serving. The difference between the two options is difficult to detect visually. When you Snap the wrist to execute the serve the racquet-head tends to finish with the tip leading and the right and left edges going through contact almost symmetrically. When you Pronate to hit the serve the left edge (in the case of a right-hander) tends to lead the racquet through the ball. For me, both styles do the same thing when executed correctly. Both Snapping and Pronating, when done correctly, promote a wrist that dominates the arm during the serve. Whenever the arm dominates the wrist during the serve the result will be a serve lacking feel for your target and reduced racquet-head speed. A dominant wrist that Snaps or Pronates will give the serv...

I recently worked with a group of strong ITF-level juniors. Each player had a solid game; the task for me was to take these accomplished juniors and prepare them for the next tournament. Because ground strokes are essential to a player’s competitive success, I focused on adding to their existing ground stroke games.   Many players at this level have good ground strokes but lack that X-factor separating promising juniors from juniors who transition successfully into the professional ranks. I wanted to remove them from their "consistent, safety first" mindset and add some "X-Factor" to their games. During the week of training, I brought 3 different teaching theories together. I created a much stronger, more effective game that would continue to develop far into the future. The 3 Theories I worked with them on were:      1.  THE 7 TARGET ZONES: Knowing where to hit the Ball and Why There are 7 target zones on the court. They are… (1) ...

I recently had a player, “James”, who was going through a rough period. James was struggling in practice and in competition. He didn’t seem to be enjoying himself on-court, becoming over-stressed and making poor decisions while executing strokes and tactics. It would have been easy to point the blame at his faltering ground-strokes and poor on-court execution, but I felt that spending time working on the details of his game would not have helped.   It seemed to me that the problem was mental and not technical.   Sometimes players lose sight of the real reasons they love to play tennis and compete. Often I ask players “Why do you play tennis”?   The answers are mostly the same.   Players say they “Like to Win” and “It’s fun”. But if that was true we would all play against opponents that we could beat easily.   Obviously playing against opponents that can be beaten easily would not be satisfying at all, therefore “winning” is not what brings us back...